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Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode

Matej 'Retro' Jan, Retronator

Learn how to draw pixel art with a video game! Start from zero and develop real art skills in a relaxing way. Complete interactive tutorials, draw pixel art sprites, and play the games you create. Everyone can do this!

CasualSimulationAnimation & ModelingDesign & IllustrationEducationGame DevelopmentEarly Access

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About This Game

Pixel Art Academy is an educational game for learning how to draw. In Learn Mode, you jump straight into the game's interactive tutorials for the fastest way of becoming a pixel artist. After you learn the rules behind pixel art lines, test your skills by drawing fan art and unleash your creativity with designing and illustrating your own pinball machine.



Please note that during Early Access the game does not cover all areas of art yet!

The game's content is organized around the 7 elements of art: line, shape, form, space, value, color, and texture. The current version only covers lines with about 2–3 hours of gameplay for a minimal playthrough (more if you complete all the challenges and put extra effort into game projects). The other 6 elements are planned to be developed during Early Access.

Features


  • An immersive user interface with a cozy, relaxing atmosphere.



  • Carefully designed interactive tutorials teach how to use drawing tools, followed by intermediate lessons covering pixel art fundamentals with a focus on line art and jaggies.



  • Put theory into practice with drawing challenges where you copy other indie game sprites or draw fan art from reference.



  • Design video game sprites as you customize the game Snake and create your very own pinball machine. Of course, you get to play the games as well!



  • Get in the groove with more than 6 hours of background music to accompany your drawing sessions.

Future development

Please keep in mind that the game is designed, drawn, and coded by a single person—me! I also have to run the business side of things, do marketing, and organize collaborations with other artists, all of which take time. Expect slow, but steady progress. I have been working on the bigger Pixel Art Academy universe for 9 years now and I don't intend to stop any time soon.

I also keep a completely transparent development process. Visit my YouTube channel for frequent devlogs or catch me anywhere on the internet to chat about current progress.

Community Activity

  1. Artwork preview fix

    If you created any of your own artworks, looking at their fullscreen preview (clicking on the canvas while on the clipboard) made the game freeze. This small patch makes it work…

  2. Patch for too many chess pieces

    Some of you were able to buy 9 pawns in Chess Academy. This patch will fix your save file and prevent any others from being too speedy in the chess shop. No more breaking the…

  3. Chess art project

    TL;DR: An art project in which you draw small, 2D chess pieces. Playtest your art on the Pixeltosh and learn the rules of chess. A chess magazine with 90 references to get…

  4. Steam Cloud and more

    TL;DR: Steam Cloud available for existing and new saves. Universal macOS build with native Apple Silicon support. SteamOS/Linux build enabled, see below. Storage and performance…

  5. Readability analysis hotfix

    There was a bug where the readability analysis didn't give you a checkmark if you used undo to get back to the state of the drawing before you opened the analysis paper. I've…

  6. Readability challenge

    TL;DR: Pixel art readability challenge with 94 icons to draw in 8×8, 16×16, and 32×32 sizes. Two new cassette tapes in synthwave and lo-fi genres. Archive folder for inactive…

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